Gretchen Rubin’s year-long search of happiness is chronicled in her book The Happiness Project. She therefore spent an entire year attempting to increase her level of happiness as a type of scientific investigation. She assigned herself projects she thought would make her happier to work on for each month. The Happiness Project provides an overview of the activities that were successful for her so that you can create your own happiness project.
Gretchen Rubin writes about human nature, habits, and pleasure. Better Than Before, Happier at Home, and The Happiness Project are her New York Times best-selling books. More than two million print and digital copies of Rubin’s books have been sold globally in more than thirty different languages. She writes about her experiences in the search for habits and happiness in her daily blog, GretchenRubin.com. She talks about positive behaviors and happiness with her sister Elizabeth Craft, a television writer located in Los Angeles, on her weekly podcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin.
How to Create a Happiness Project
Decide what makes you happy, satisfied, and engaged. Make resolutions that contain specific behaviors that will increase your happiness, and then follow through on them. Each month, concentrate on a different subject. There are twelve spots to fill throughout the twelve months of the year. Try to stick to your January resolution solely for the first month. Add the following set of resolutions to the January set in February. You would be rating yourself on all of your resolutions for the entire year by December. Create your own customized one by drawing inspiration from Gretchen’s 12-month happiness project.
January: Energy
She made the decision to start the year by putting an emphasis on her energy, believing that having greater vigor would make it simpler to keep a resolution. That included getting more rest, working out more, and clearing out both the mind and body. Outdoor activities provide us more energy and sharpen our minds. It has been established that light is healthy for the brain and encourages the creation of the hormones serotonin and dopamine, which are linked to feelings of happiness. Rubin also discovered that planning an easy victory, such as finishing a long-postponed task, is one of the best strategies to improve your mood and mental vigor. You should be motivated by the joy these victories have brought you. Feeling energized will consequently boost your confidence and enable you to do more chores.
February: Marriage
Since it affects how one lives their daily lives, a happy marriage is among the elements with the strongest associations with happiness. Everyone needs the support and company that it offers. You can focus on strengthening your marriage even if it’s not currently in peril. We all develop bad habits over time, which should be changed before they become harmful. These behaviours included nagging, criticizing, seeking for praise without providing it, snapping, being less mindful of her spouse than she was of other people, and paying attention to small details that irritated her. You could feel compelled to concentrate on your spouse and emphasize what they could do to make you happier when you think about marital happiness.
Still, the fact is you can’t change anyone but yourself. Initially, Rubin expected her husband to listen more, care more, and notice her needs more. However, she actually realized the changes she could make within the relationship significantly improved her relationship. When you give up expecting a spouse to change, you lessen anger and resentment. This creates a more loving atmosphere in the marriage
March: Work
Work is essential for happiness, and happiness is essential for work. A person must first be productive in order to be truly happy. Second, we spend a lot of time at work. Even selecting the appropriate job may be the subject of another person’s happiness project. Gretchen found that concentrating on her work gave her greater energy, creativity, and efficiency in her work-life. She accepted failure as a fun aspect of being ambitious and creative in order to be more successful. She also learned to seek for assistance and overcame the urge to act as though she knew things she didn’t. She choose to start writing rather than picking a skill she was naturally good at. She was excited about it.
- starting a blog.
- taking pleasure in failure’s fun.
- seeking assistance.
- Work wisely.
- Enjoy this moment.
April: Parenthood
The most joyful times in our life are shared with our children, but they are also a major cause of anxiety, annoyance, expense, difficulty, and loss of sleep. Gretchen set herself a goal for the month of being kinder and more playful with her girls. She desired a tranquil, upbeat, even joyful atmosphere at home. She was aware that nagging and yelling wouldn’t help. She discovered that singing in the morning had an uplifting effect and made it simpler for her to have a light-hearted conversation with her kids. She made the decision to give her family the time it required and turn them into a treasure trove of joyous memories.
- Sing early in the day.
- Recognize that people’s emotions are real.
- Be a repository for pleasant memories.
- Give projects some thought.
May: Leisure
A vital component of living a happy life is having fun frequently. Improve your play. These are the things you do in your spare time because you want to, not because they are important economically or because they will make you seem good or get you noticed. Schedule some silly time. Keep yourself from turning into a depressing, uninteresting person. Keep in mind that not everything that appeals to one person may do the same for you. Discovering happiness with your happiness project also involves exploring and finding your own route. Rubin proposes completing the following Happiness Project assignments in May:
- Find more fun.
- Take time to be silly.
- Go off the path.
- Start a collection.
June: Friendship
People often feel happy when they are with other people, regardless of what they are doing. Your interpersonal interactions are also the best indicator of life satisfaction. Long-term partnerships require care and attention. You must confide in other people. You must fit in. One of the finest ways to achieve this is through encouraging others to feel good and think big. In essence, Rubin concentrated on advising people to follow their own preferences. She discovered as a result that making other people happy is the best method to boost your own happiness. Rubin advises performing the following chores in June:
- Remember birthdays.
- Be generous.
- Show up.
- Don’t gossip.
- Make three new friends.
July: Money
Gretchen made the decision to occasionally indulge in a small shopping spree as a way to treat herself to some enjoyment. A library of children’s books was her favourite. She came to the conclusion this month that in order for money to increase her happiness, it must support things of life that make you happy. A distinction between underbuyers and overbuyers was made by Rubin. People who underbuy only buy when they actually need something, whereas overbuyers overstock their homes with items they frequently wind up discarding. Rubin makes a similar distinction between spenders and keepers. Spenders take pleasure in their purchases, whereas keepers want to hold on to their possessions for a very long time. This has the drawback of making keepers wait to enjoy their purchases until they are no longer useful or have passed away.
She would come up with brilliant ideas and store them for later. She did, however, understand that it is better to use your ideas and have confidence in your abilities. Rubin distinguishes between purchasers and discarders in his final point. Customers attempt to get every last bit of value from items. As an alternative, discarders take things away when they are no longer useful. Try to develop the ability to discard. Rubin realized that for her, a substantial portion of her energy was consumed by clutter that had been accumulating for a long time as she thought about organizing it. According to one study, eliminating routinely pointless details can reduce household effort by up to 40%.
August: Eternity
Gretchen started exploring spirituality in August. She made the decision to read the memoirs of persons who were dying in order to increase her awareness of how short life is. She discovered that after reading these testimonials, her respect for her everyday life had substantially risen. Life appears so stable and unflappable every day, but all it takes is one phone call to end it. She made an effort to thoroughly enjoy the moment and cherish the different seasons of her life after realizing that although the days are long, the years are brief. Rubin advises performing the following activities in August:
- Read accounts of disaster.
- Maintain a thankfulness journal.
- imitate a wise person.
September: Pursue a passion
Be aware of your passion. Make time for it and figure out how to work the activity into your daily routine. Giving a month to a hobby entails treating it as a genuine priority rather than as an extra to be squeezed in when you have some free time. Say you’re having trouble pinpointing your passion. Think back to when you were ten years old and what you liked to do. Instead, think about what you would do on a free Saturday afternoon. For Gretchen, this meant anything and everything to do with reading, writing, and creating things by hand. The following mini-projects are suggested by Rubin for September:
- Write a novel.
- Make time.
- Forget about results.
- Master a new technology.
October: Mindfulness
The development of mindful, nonjudgmental awareness has numerous positive effects on happiness. Through meditation, one can cultivate mindfulness in a very potent way. Gretchen was unwilling to carry out the task. She looked for other methods to aid in her ability to pay attention, remain present, and avoid default behaviour. She tried a variety of techniques, including yoga, hypnosis, laughing, and painting workshops. She still advises you to find your own way even if she had trouble getting around in October. The tasks for October are as follows:
- Meditate.
- Examine the real laws.
- enliven the intellect in novel ways.
- Maintain a food diary.
November: Attitude
Gretchen concentrated on her attitude in November. She desired to develop a joyful, kind, and loving attitude. It’s simpler to gripe than to smile, to scream than to make jokes, and to be demanding than to be content. Focus on a few key areas of your attitude that you wish to improve, and practise being happy. The tasks for November are as follows:
- Laugh out loud.
- Use good manners.
- Give positive reviews.
- Find an area of refuge
December: Bootcamp-Perfect
After piling on resolutions for 11 months, Gretchen would follow all of her resolutions all the time, aiming for perfection in the last month. It was challenging and demanding. She didn’t have a single perfect day during December. Still, she kept trying because her resolutions made her truly happy. The process of continually reviewing resolutions and holding yourself accountable each day has a huge effect on your behavior.
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